Washington – There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in Iraq, not counting subcontractors, a total approaching the size of the U.S. military force there, according to the military’s first census of the growing population of civilians operating in the battlefield.
The number, which includes Americans, Iraqis and third-party nationals hired by companies operating under U.S. government contracts, is significantly higher and wider in scope than the Pentagon’s only previous estimate of 25,000 security contractors in the country.
It also is 10 times the estimated number of contractors that deployed during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, reflecting the Pentagon’s growing post-Cold War reliance on contractors for such jobs as providing security, interrogating prisoners, cooking meals, fixing equipment and constructing bases.
In addition to about 140,000 U.S. troops, Iraq is now filled with a hodgepodge of contractors. DynCorp International has about 1,500 employees in Iraq, including about 700 helping to train the police force. Blackwater USA has more than 1,000 employees in the country, most of them providing private security. Kellogg, Brown and Root, one of the largest contractors in Iraq, said it does not delineate its workforce by country but that it has more than 50,000 employees and subcontractors in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Two divisions of L-3 Communications account for another 7,000.
The latest estimate “further demonstrates the need for Congress to finally engage in responsible, serious and aggressive oversight over the questionable and growing U.S. practice of private military contracting,” said Rep. Janice Schakowsky, D-Ill., who has been critical of the military’s reliance on contractors.
About 650 contractors have died in Iraq since 2003, according to Labor Department statistics.
